I recently posted an excerpt from Chapter 17 of Implementing Enterprise 2.0 titled 8 Guiding Principles for Pilot Programs: A Key for Enterprise 2.0.
To follow up, here is an additional excerpt from Chapter 17 on pilots.
CHARACTERISTICS OF GREAT PILOT TEAM MEMBERS
The selection of pilot team members is a major factor not just in the success of the pilots, but also whether useful lessons are learned and the successful migration of the pilots into other parts of the business.
The reality is that there is usually limited choice in selecting pilot team members. However since it is such an important driver of success, it is important to understand the characteristics of great pilot team members, and to apply this to the degree possible in bringing the right people on board.
There are five key aspects to a great pilot team member.
1. Enthusiasm
There is no substitute for enthusiasm in a pilot. As such, in most cases the best pilot team members are those who are clamoring to try something because they think it will make them more effective in their work.
Enthusiastic team members will:
• Want to be involved in the pilot!
• Think there are better ways to do things than current approaches
• Be happy to try new things
• Put up with immature systems
• Put in extra time and energy now for the potential of worthwhile results later
• Actively suggest and try new ideas to make the pilot work better
Read more →
New research: Microblogging Inside and Outside the Workplace
By Ross DawsonI just got off the phone with Kate Ehrlich of IBM Research, who I’ve known for many years and was one my co-authors for our California Management Review article Managing Collaboration: Improving Team Effectiveness through a Network Perspective.
We had a great discussion about a variety of common interests, including where things are going in using social network analysis for performance improvement, and the value of social media in sales teams. Kate shared with me some recent research she has done with the use of microblogging inside and outside the enterprise, which has been written up as a paper titled Microblogging Inside and Outside the Workplace – it’s well worth a read.
IBM established BlueTwit some time ago as an internal microblogging tool, and its employees also use Twitter. As such, they were able to do research comparing how staff used microblogging for internal and external audiences.
Source: Microblogging Inside and Outside the Workplace
The research showed that Twitter is used more for sharing information and status updates, while the internal tool was used more for asking questions and directed interaction.
The study also included a qualitative component of interviews with IBM employees on how they used the microblogging tools. Below are the motivations and perspectives identified in the studies, together with representative quotes. See the article for the detailed research.
WHAT EMPLOYEES SAY ABOUT MICROBLOGGING
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6 Steps in Enterprise 2.0 Governance Projects
By Ross DawsonI believe that governance is at the heart of effective Enterprise 2.0 implementation. While many shy away at the term, mainly because governance is usually focused on risk and limitations, I see it differently. True governance is just as much about ensuring that opportunities are taken as it is as about containing risk. Governance, done well, is an enabler of innovation, providing parameters, guidelines and policies that address risks, and allow the greatest possible scope for experimentation and value creation.
As such most of my client work on Enterprise 2.0 is helping executives to frame governance and develop effective strategies. Advanced Human Technologies doesn’t do implementation; we work with partners for the nitty-gritty of larger projects. We believe that the greatest value creation is getting the frame right. Everything else flows from that.
The chapter on governance in my book Implementing Enterprise 2.0 is available for free download from the book website. However I thought it was also worth excerpting the chapter, as below. This section describes a typical Enterprise 2.0 governance process. Of course projects must be always tailored to the situation, addressing issues including organizational culture and existing processes.
SIX STEPS IN A TYPICAL GOVERNANCE PROCESS
1. Nominate a project leader and project sponsor
Creating a governance framework is a significant initiative that requires access to key stakeholders. A senior executive project sponsor should be named who will facilitate access to resources and people where required. The project leader can be either an internal manager with the appropriate skills and understanding of the organization, or an external consultant who has the benefit of independence from organizational politics.
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Essential capabilities: Aligning cultures and processes across blurred organizational boundaries
By Ross DawsonOn my earlier post on Social CRM Larry Irons asked a great question about how organizations can engage effectively with their customers and partners when much of their customer support is outsourced.
While there are no easy answers, there are two organizational capabilities that are increasingly critical for success. The first is developing clear strategies for what should be done inside the organization, and what should be done outside. These are difficult decisions to make, and even harder to implement well.
The second capability is aligning business processes with your external partners. In the following excerpt from Chapter 3 of Living Networks (available for download here), I describe the approaches call center giant Convergys takes to try to align culture and process with its clients.
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5 ways to add value to information
By Ross DawsonAs I prepare a presentation to the senior staff at one of Australia’s more innovative universities later this week I just had a glance at the slides to a keynote I did back in 2002 to the Australian Library and Information Association. I used the image below showing five ways to add value to information. It still makes sense.
Social CRM and disrupting analyst business models
By Ross DawsonI recently had a chat with R “Ray” Wang of Altimeter Group about what we’re up to and our respective business models. Among other things, Ray said that Altimeter wants to work in new spaces that others aren’t covering. ERP is boring. But Social CRM, for example, is on the leading edge of where value is being created, but traditional analyst firms are not working.
As a recent entrant to the market (the firm was founded in July 2008 by Charlene Li and now has 7 partners), Altimeter has the flexibility to use different approaches to the existing large firms. In this case, instead of charging in the thousands of dollars for a cutting-edge analyst report, it has launched Social CRM: The New Rules of Relationship Management for free, enabling anyone to embed it on their own site, as I have below.
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Key management trend: Reputation management
By Ross DawsonI was recently interviewed for a report created by the executive forum Vistage, titled 12 Trends That Will Define Business in the “New Normal”.
One of the key trends covered in the report in which they drew on my thoughts is reputation management, excerpted below.
Twitter stats: more users are engaged, one-third have more followers than following, the most prolific Tweeters have around 1000 followers
By Ross DawsonBarracuda Labs’ annual report contains some interesting analysis of the online space, including Twitter and security issues. A few highlights:
* Only 21% of Twitter accounts are active i.e. at least 10 followers/ 10 following/ 10 tweets
* Even so, there has been an increase in activity from dormant accounts – 40% fewer accounts have zero followers compared with six months ago
* 66% of users are following more or the same as the their number of followers (i.e. you are in the “top” one third if you have more followers than following)
* The most prolific Tweeters are those with around 1,000 followers. Those with more followers tend to tweet less – see chart below.
Read more →
Designing and running executive offsites and retreats in Asia
By Ross DawsonI am just back from Phuket in Thailand where I facilitated the offsite session of the top 120 executives of a major professional services firm in Asia. This is staple work for me. My role at these kind of events ranges from delivering a keynote presentation that brings forcibly home the key themes of the event, for example change or innovation, to in some cases designing and facilitating the entire event, particularly when it is focused on strategy development.
While executive offsite sessions are common to business around the world, there are a few specific dynamics to take into account for organizers of retreats in Asia.
Diversity
Asian countries, economies, and cultures are far more diverse than those, for example, in Europe. There are often different priority strategic issues across country operations, and management structures need to vary between operations. Offsite objectives and structure should reflect that.
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Five key characteristics of great pilot team members
By Ross DawsonI recently posted an excerpt from Chapter 17 of Implementing Enterprise 2.0 titled 8 Guiding Principles for Pilot Programs: A Key for Enterprise 2.0.
To follow up, here is an additional excerpt from Chapter 17 on pilots.
CHARACTERISTICS OF GREAT PILOT TEAM MEMBERS
The selection of pilot team members is a major factor not just in the success of the pilots, but also whether useful lessons are learned and the successful migration of the pilots into other parts of the business.
The reality is that there is usually limited choice in selecting pilot team members. However since it is such an important driver of success, it is important to understand the characteristics of great pilot team members, and to apply this to the degree possible in bringing the right people on board.
There are five key aspects to a great pilot team member.
1. Enthusiasm
There is no substitute for enthusiasm in a pilot. As such, in most cases the best pilot team members are those who are clamoring to try something because they think it will make them more effective in their work.
Enthusiastic team members will:
• Want to be involved in the pilot!
• Think there are better ways to do things than current approaches
• Be happy to try new things
• Put up with immature systems
• Put in extra time and energy now for the potential of worthwhile results later
• Actively suggest and try new ideas to make the pilot work better
Read more →
The Evolution and Key Success Factors of Web 2.0 in the Enterprise
By Ross DawsonThis morning I did the opening keynote at IBM’s Collective Intelligence BusinessSphere conference in Melbourne. It was designed as a brief and punchy opener to provide a big-picture context to what collective intelligence means for organizations and the key success factors.
Below are the slides. As always the slides are intended to provide visual support to my presentation, not to be useful by themselves. However there are a few visuals there that may be of interest even to those who didn’t attend.